Identification of Different Modes of Molecular Motion in Polymers That Cause Thermorheological Complexity

The viscoelastic properties of amorphous polymers are reviewed with emphasis on the glass to rubber dispersion (often referred to as the transition zone). Deviations from thermorheologieal simplicity (where molecular retardation and relaxation mechanisms have the same temperature dependence) are identified. Most theories and models of polymer chain dynamics do not address or acknowledge thermorheological complexities and correlations, such as that between the temperature dependence and the breadth of viscoelastic and dielectric dispersions of the local segmental motion. Without successful theories of these phenomena the understanding of polymer chain dynamics must be considered incomplete. In this review, old and new experimental data are used to identify the different modes of molecular motions and the domains of their contributions to the time and frequency dependence of the mechanical response of amorphous polymers. The different modes are then shown generally to have their own dependence on temperature. Thus the viscoelastic spectrum, including local segmental motions which dominate the onset of glassy behavior and largely determine the glass temperature, Tg, the glass to rubber softening dispersion, the rubbery plateau and the terminal zone, is thermorheologically complex. A coupling theory, with the physics of intermolecular interactions and cooperativity built into it, describes well the many-body dynamics of densely packed molecular systems such as polymers. The many predictions of the coupling theory are applied to the different viscoeleatic modes to explain the observed anomalous experimental facts and established correlations. The theoretical understanding has been improved to the extent that now a connection can be made between the chemical structure of the monomer and the viscoelastic properties of the polymer.